


You're Running Right Through My Veins

by TomiTom



Series: Reguri Week 2020 [2]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Childhood Friends, Fluff, Friends With Benefits, Friends to Lovers, Growing Up, Intimacy, M/M, More like Friends to Rivals to Strangers to Friends With Benefits to Lovers, Sexual Content, not that angsty though, you know the drill not implied but not explicit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:20:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26306230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TomiTom/pseuds/TomiTom
Summary: Reguri Week 2020 Day 2The kisses leading up to Red and Green's relationship.
Relationships: Ookido Green | Blue Oak/Red
Series: Reguri Week 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1933411
Comments: 7
Kudos: 123





	You're Running Right Through My Veins

**Author's Note:**

> My entry for Reguri Week 2020 Day 2: Winter/Summer Day or Kiss
> 
> I chose Kiss. Thought I had a real cute idea. I hope you guys agree :)

The first time they kissed, they were five years old.

It wasn’t really a kiss, of course it wasn’t. They were just five, after all, and didn’t really know what it meant or how it was done. All they knew was that this was the way you showed people you liked them a lot. And Red and Green liked each other a lot! They were best friends and Green was Red’s favorite person in the world next to his mom.

They thought nothing of it. Afterwards, Green just kept on talking about whatever came to his head like he always did. Green’s older sister Daisy often said that Green talked enough for both of them – Red didn’t like talking. He could, but he didn’t want to. And Green understood that and didn’t question it. That was why Red liked him so much.

The second time was when they were six.

It had been a rough year. Green’s parents had died in a plane crash when they were flying back from one of their research trips. Red still remembered that day, when Green came over to his house in tears and clung to him as if he could disappear as well.

Green stopped speaking for months after that. It shouldn’t have been a big deal to Red – they were learning sign language together because Red didn’t speak either, so they could still communicate even when neither of them was talking. But it was a big deal to Red. Green always talked. He was always ready to tell Red about something, anything that came to his head. And then, from one moment to the next, Green was silent. It was as if the light had left him.

But one thing stayed the same even through the months of silence: Green would visit Red every single day. They would just sit together in the early days, then their days started going back to normal. They’d play outside, go into the forest, cloud gaze. All in utter and complete silence.

Until today. Today was different, because Green’s mismatched eyes looked a little brighter, a little bit more alive than they did in the past months after his parents’ deaths.

They were playing with some of Red’s Pokémon figures and when Red gave Green a small Eevee figure – knowing for a fact that this was Green’s favorite – Green whispered a quiet, almost inaudible, “Thank you.”

Red’s head shot up and he saw Green, looking right at him. Red smiled then, and leaned over to give Green a quick kiss. He wanted to show him how happy he was that Green spoke. How thankful he was for it. And Green gave him a timid smile – not the smile he used to give but it was a start – and took Red’s hand. He didn’t stop holding his hand all day, not while they played, not while Green spoke a few words to Daisy and Red’s mom. They all looked happy, but Red was sure none of them was even half as happy as he was. 

The third time was when they were sixteen.

So. A lot had happened in ten years. They had fallen apart. Short version of the entire story? They were best friends until they started their Pokémon journey at eleven where all that counted for Green was to make his grandfather proud. Green became Champion. Not even half an hour later, Red took the title from him. Green refused to even look at him anymore after that. Red was left alone without his best friend to deal with the media and people. When all of that became too much, Red ran away and found a place to stay up on the snowy top of Mount Silver.

He had been here for three years, training and surviving with his team. He had been on his own for three years, living in blessed silence. No one came here to bother him, to speak to him. It was all he had ever wanted. And yet, he still felt rotten about it.

Things changed when his silence was disturbed by a kid with a confidence and voice so loud that he reminded Red painfully of Green. Luckily, the kid hadn’t been here to talk to him. Rather, he wanted a battle. Red could do that.

And Red had lost. After celebrating with his last standing Pokémon, Ethan had offered a few words. Even the elated smile reminded Red of Green. But soon after, Ethan – the kid’s name – had left and that was the end of that.

Until Green came rushing into Red’s cave a few weeks later.

That was a few months ago. Months of Green coming up here a few times a week to make sure Red was eating properly, hadn’t frozen to death, and had no second of peace for his poor heart. Their friendship was strange now. It was strained from the years of distance, from words spoken too much, and those left unsaid.

One thing that hadn’t changed, though, was the way Green was not afraid to challenge everything about Red. Red didn’t know how it happened, but during one of Green’s visits, the tension between them came to a head. It was long overdue, Red thought, that this tension came back to bite them in the ass.

It probably came from an ill-timed shrug or eye-roll, or something. It didn’t really matter, anyways. Bottom of the line was, they were fighting again. And Red just didn’t like it when Green got angry. Green looked almost scary when he was mad, and he knew exactly how to use his words to get under someone else’s skin. He’d always been great at that. But he wasn’t cool or collected, he was passionate about everything he felt, and that included his anger. So an angry Green was never fun.

So, in an effort to escape this situation, Red turned around to face the cave wall. Bad move, it turned out, because Green hated that habit of his on a good day, and it absolutely drove him insane when he did it now. Red felt a forceful hand on his shoulder before he was turned around to come face to face with Green, now much closer than he was a few seconds ago.

“Fucking look at me!” Green growled and closed his fingers around the collar of Red’s vest.

Red in turn grabbed Green’s left wrist and glared at him from underneath the brim of his hat. Green bared his gritted teeth a little bit – that was something that he did when he was especially mad, when his lip pulled back in something akin to a snarl – and wait, why was Red focusing on that of all things?

And suddenly, the tension switched from one second to the next and Green’s grip on Red’s collar softened minutely. And then they were kissing. The kiss burned with the anger between them, with the words they said and thought and were too afraid and too proud to speak out loud.

Then, as if waking up from a dream, they both realized what they were doing and shoved each other away. There was a blush high on Green’s cheeks and he tried to discreetly wipe his hand over his mouth. Red pulled his lower lip between his teeth as if he tried to bite away the feeling of Green’s mouth on his.

They didn’t speak about it. They stayed silent as if it never happened, ignored it completely. Green could blame the way he felt things more passionately than others, and Red could blame the fact that Green was the only regular human contact he had had in years.

The fourth time was when they were eighteen.

So, they managed to ignore not only the kiss but also the rising tension between them over two entire years. Red didn’t know whether there was an award for something like this, but there should be.

Somehow, even through the awkwardness and weird hormonal moments, they grew closer. Similar to the way they were when they were kids, no, even closer than that. They were finally back at the point where Green could understand Red without using signs or words. They were finally back at the point where Red could actually speak real words to Green, out loud and everything.

They had a balance, delicate as it was. Green came by every week, maybe twice. Sometimes, when he could make time with his private and work life, he would stay the night on a week end. They wouldn’t always talk. Sometimes, they just sat together in companionable silence. Sometimes, Green showed Red what he missed. Matter of the fact was, they had a routine and Red _knew_ Green.

“Green,” he finally said, interrupting Green recounting a story about Ethan doing something stupid again. “What’s going on?”

Green sighed. He didn’t even pretend that it was nothing. He knew that Red wouldn’t believe him. “I got a scholarship for one of the colleges I really wanted to get in.”

Red raised a confused eyebrow. That sounded like something Green would normally brag about. So why was he not only waiting to tell Red about it but also seemingly sad about it?

“It’s really cool, don’t get me wrong,” Green said now, “but it’s in Kalos. It’s really far away from here. If I go, I won’t return until I have my degree. I can’t afford to fly between Kanto and Kalos during the holidays. I’ve never been gone for so long and, I don’t know, I think I’m scared.” He bit his bottom lip. “But I’m gonna go.”

So that was it. Green was leaving. Red nodded slowly as he took the information in. He was happy for Green for making it into the school he had wanted to go to, but he had gotten used to having him here. It would be weird to suddenly be left all alone again with only his Team to keep him company.

“I’ll miss you,” Red admitted. Three words but they said enough. They told Green that Red understood, that he was happy for him, that he accepted it, and that he was looking forward to him coming back.

Green smiled, then, and crawled over to Red, closing the small distance between them. Red didn’t know what Green’s plan was – most likely not what would proceed to happen between them – but Green stopped next to him and carefully lifted Red’s hat up a little bit to get a better view of his face.

Red met his eyes and that was when things shifted. Something happened to the atmosphere between them, Green’s smile dropped from his lips, and his eyes flicked down to Red’s. Green’s fingers let go of the brim of Red’s hat and dropped to his shoulder. Red’s own hand curled into the side of Green’s jacket. They stared at each other for a moment, delaying the inevitable for only a short moment.

He wasn’t sure who bridged the gap between them first, but soon all thought left Red’s head. Green was kissing him again. He could feel Green’s breath on his cheek, and he pulled him closer by his jacket so Green had no choice but climb into his lap if he didn’t want to crouch between Red and the wall.

In the first moments, the kiss was slow and careful, maybe a little bit unsure. But then Green’s arms slid further around Red’s neck, and Red cupped the side of Green’s face with his free hand to angle his head the way he wanted. Green’s mouth opened, so did Red, and yeah, that was Green’s tongue in his mouth.

Red proceeded to get Green’s jacket open and push it off his shoulders. They got each other out of their clothes and laid them down on the cave floor like something that almost looked like a nest as to not lie right on the cold stone. Whatever Green’s plan had been, it sure as fuck was not this, but neither of them was really complaining.

What followed were many more kisses, but none of them on the mouth. It was some kind of sick torture, to have Green like this, to see his mouth open and hot and wet and enticing. But whenever he tried, Green avoided him until Red got the hint. No kisses on the mouth.

So instead, Red made it his mission to explore the entirety of Green’s body with his mouth. He didn’t really think about what his disappointment meant – he’d have all the time of the world to think about that, right now, he wanted to make sure Green had a hard time forgetting about this when he was in Kalos.

The fifth time was when they were twenty-one.

Green stayed in Kalos for three years. He came back older, a little taller, with more experiences. Meanwhile, Red had grown taller than Green, broader than him too, and he still hadn’t left his little bubble of peace on the mountain.

But then Green came back, all smiles and a bright shock of orange hair in an almost entirely white environment and rosy freckled cheeks. Green’s eyes sparkled when he saw Red again, and Red never thought he’d ever see him like this, so light and comfortable.

A lot happened while he was away, it seemed. Eva, his ever-present Eevee, had actually evolved. Red watched in amusement as Pika tried to come to terms with his best friend suddenly being a Sylveon. Green had gotten his ears pierced which was a small change compared to the rest, but it was something that Red can easily focus on.

Green was even more beautiful now. And Red had to face the fact that he was still in love with his best friend and that these feelings hadn’t just magically disappeared over the last years.

Their routine restarted itself almost seamlessly. Green came up the mountain sometimes to visit, but soon enough, Red realizes that these visits weren’t as easy on Green anymore. His light seemed to dim more and more with every visit and his smiles became more strained.

So Red asked him what was going on. Green explained that he had kept Red’s location a secret ever since he found him up here five years ago. But it was getting too much for him. He had missed Red for all of the three years that he was in Kalos, and he still missed him now. And worse than that, he said, was that Red’s mother still didn’t know whether her son was dead or alive.

And it almost broke Red’s heart when Green turned to him with real tears in his eyes and begged with a broken voice, “Come home.”

Green left the mountain without promising to be back in a few days. And Red was left with his thoughts and an insistent Pika, trying to get his trainer to snap out of staring at the sky as if Green was going to come back. He wasn’t, at least not for a while. Which was the right thing to do. He had laid his cards out on the table, and now it was Red’s turn.

So he did what he should have done years ago. He packed his things, collected his Team, and kissed Mount Silver goodbye. Not just because of Green. He had almost forgotten about leaving his mother and didn’t that just make him the worst son in existence?

He visited his mother first. She cried immediately upon seeing him, and Red held her while she sobbed into his shoulder, and he apologized again and again and again. And then, once she calmed down, he left his Team with her and promised her to come back home tomorrow. She told him that Green still lived in Viridian City, still above the Gym. Red had never once seen his apartment.

That would change soon enough, because Red got to Viridian as quickly as he was able. The Trainers at the Gym seemed to want to kick Red out, but as soon as they recognized his cap, they were too stunned and speechless to stop him from marching right in and to the door leading to the staircase leading up to the apartment above the Gym.

He knocked on the door and it didn’t take long for Green to open, but it he clearly hadn’t expected it to be Red of all people. He stared at him open-mouthed and Red swallowed nervously. This was it. There was no going back from this and that was fine, Red didn’t want to go back from this. But it was still a nerve-wracking thing to put himself out there like this. On the other hand, Green had done the same thing first. It was about time that Red returned the favor.

So, he offered Green only two words, but two words that were enough, “I’m home.”

Green wrapped his arms around his neck and kissed him. Red held him by the waist and leaned down a bit to make it easier to kiss back, and he let himself be dragged into the apartment. The door fell shut behind them, but he only followed Green. Their clothes came off on their way to what Red could only guess was Green’s bedroom. He turned out to be right when suddenly, Green hit something and let himself drop backwards, taking Red down with him onto a soft mattress.

Red lost count of all the kisses they shared that night. There was an egregious difference between this time and their last time. Now, Green’s prickly exterior melted away to make way for a more gentle, more vulnerable version. Biting teeth and scratching nails were replaced by exploring lips and curious hands. Green pulled Red as close as humanly possible, kissed him, and pressed loving words into his skin. And Red held him as if it was the last time he would ever get to do it, tried his best to commit all the new muscles and dips and weak spots of Green’s body to memory.

Red woke up slowly the next morning when he felt the warmth next to him leaving. He was too comfortable on the soft mattress, so unlike the cave the used to sleep in, that he simply sunk into the pillows and dozed in peace. He could hear Green singing in the bathroom over the sound of the shower going. Red didn’t know how much time passed, but at some point, Green had come out of the bathroom and was bustling about in the bedroom. He felt a hand on his forehead when Green pushed a few strands out of his face.

“Take your time,” Green mumbled, “I’m gonna make breakfast.” A kiss followed to the spot where Green’s fingers had been.

Red did just as he was told and took his time to wake up and get out of bed. Green had a really comfortable bed. He hadn’t expected to sleep well on a soft ground after having gotten used to the hard and cold sleeping conditions on Mount Silver, but apparently, he hadn’t just missed Green.

What he had missed, for sure, were showers. Running water that was hot? Sign him up. He spent more time than necessary in the bathroom, but he didn’t think anyone could blame him for it. Over the past years, he had showered in barely above freezing cold streams. It hadn’t been the most fun experience.

When he finally came out of the bathroom, wrapped in a huge fluffy towel, he saw a pile of clothes neatly folded on the bed. A note told Red that Green had looked for the largest clothes he owned and that Red could wear them. There was even a little smiley face drawn on it. Shit, Green was so cute.

The sweatpants were a little bit too short and the t-shirt was a bit snug around the shoulders, but Red didn’t feel uncomfortable, so it was fine. He put on the dark red zip-up hoodie Green had added to the pile. This one fit surprisingly well and Red was reminded that Green liked wearing sweaters that were way too big for him.

In the kitchen, Green was sliding left and right on the tiles while Eva leapt around and between his legs. They almost looked like they were dancing together. Red only took a moment to watch, then stepped into the kitchen and into Green’s field of sight. He stopped his sliding, put whatever was in his hands down on the counter, and smiled beautifully.

“Good morning,” he greeted.

Red smiled in return and walked up closer to him to pull him into his arms and kiss him gently. Green sank into his arms so willingly, and he hummed a little, stroking his thumb over Red’s cheek. When they pulled apart, Green looked at him with such a loving light in his eyes that it made Red’s chest hurt a little. Green smiled.

“Red,” he said quietly, and Red had never heard anyone say his name like that, like it was special and wonderful, like it was precious. “Red, I love you.”

And what else could Red say other than, “I love you, too,” in a quiet voice? They kissed again. Red couldn’t get enough of this. He wanted to be with Green, he wanted to love him and be loved by him. Forever, if that was possible.

“Stay,” Green whispered into the minimal space between them, a plea so soft and sweet that Red couldn’t have resisted if he wanted to. Luckily, he didn’t want to.

“Promise.”

**Author's Note:**

> And thus, my second entry is done. I really hope that you liked this. I know that I liked writing it! Leave me something, if you wanna. See ya.


End file.
